


eyes on you

by chogiwasebooteuh



Category: NINE PERCENT (Band), 偶像练习生 | Idol Producer (TV)
Genre: I swear, M/M, Rated T for language, also tooth rotting fluff near the end, and so is ziyi, but that's ok, i cried while writing it if you want evidence, it gets half decent after tho, its kinda boring ngl, prepare yo toothbrushes, the first half is basicaly what happened in the behind the scenes for their group, we accept that in this household, xukun's kinda whipped
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-31
Updated: 2018-03-31
Packaged: 2019-04-03 20:56:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14004603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chogiwasebooteuh/pseuds/chogiwasebooteuh
Summary: xukun and ziyi can't get their shit together and confess so instead they sit and stare at each other from far and close distances.





	eyes on you

**Author's Note:**

> wussup i’m over a month late but who fucking cares 
> 
> this has been sitting in my drafts for a while so i decided to post it but there's probably a shit ton of mitsakes cuz i didnt read over it:)
> 
> cr to the subbing team they’re my heroes

xukun sat down on the floor of the practice room with yanchen, waiting for the ppap song to start playing. ziyi stood up and watched as well. he was most curious about the choreography, it would have to be ten times better than the remix they were performing, he could just sense it would be mind blowing. with that in mind, the familiar melody of the ppap song filled the room and the three boys watched the dance intently.

well that wasn't what he was expecting. xukun watched the dance in disbelief trying not to show his shock but he couldn't help it, the dance was so... cute.

it ended eventually and xukun had to pry his eyes off of the screen, making eye contact with an equally shocked ziyi and yanchen. xukun glanced back over at ziyi, who smirked at him and sent him a wink. xukun's eyes widened, nibbling at his lower lip before looking away.

well, this will be... fun.

~

xukun couldn't get over the dance. the dance was probably the worst part.

swinging his leg, he half heartedly sang, "beautiful beautiful beautiful beautiful girl," his voice faded and he walked over to his group, "oh my gosh, can't we change this? i really can't get over this part," he complained, pouting slightly. his group looked at him with disbelief, "suck it up, we all have to do this," was what yanchen bit back. they all laughed, including xukun, and continued joking around while practising.

~

ziyi was sat down in the interview room, talking about the day he had just went through, and when he was asked about the song, he replied, "when we started playing the song and finished listening to it we were all stunned, it was completely different from what we expected," he then continued by saying, "this song is a completely cute song." it went on, and he was asked about being xukun's first pick, "i was happy, very happy. i felt pretty... special at the time. it felt good." he explained, trying to bite back the real excitement he got from the thought of it.

the interview eventually ended and ziyi exited the room. as he left, xukun walked by him to go get his interview as well. they shared a slight smile.

once ziyi got back to the practice room, he sighed. he took all his things before leaving, switching off the lights as he left. it was just past one in the morning, and the majority of the trainees had retreated back to their dorms by now. ziyi walked to his room in a daze, the only thing crossing his mind being xukun. xukun, xukun, xukun, why couldn't he get him out of his head? they were only friends... ok, maybe a little bit closer than just friends, but that doesn't explain him not getting out of his head.

ziyi opened his room door and chucked all his things next to his bed, not bothering to be quiet as he washed up and jumped into his bed. he'll just have to sleep to clear his mind.

~

during xukun's interview he was asked various different things about the day today, including the song, "we got this song and thought it was a bit too cute," he admitted, "i hope to be able to slightly adjust the style, make it more cooler." he was also asked about who he picked first and why, "wang ziyi is someone you just can't forget. we have a good bond and i like to be around people like him." he dodged any other questions going further into the topic, not wanting to talk about the real reason.

he continued his interview until it was done, exiting quickly. he didn't really enjoy interviews, he had nothing against the staff it was just his personal preference. he felt that they were flirting with him in a way, but a lot of people flirt with him. he doesn't want to seem vain but he does know he is good looking, and it has its disadvantages.

xukun went back to the practice room, opening the door slowly, peeking his head through the crack of the door. the lights were off, that must mean everyone is gone by now. his hand felt the wall in an attempt to find the switch, but he paused and took it back. he should sleep, and just get up early.

~

the ppap song ended, panting could be heard from the five boys who had just performed their song for their rap mentor, jackson. they got out of position and waited for his opinion of the performance. jackson sighed and started to lecture them, "separate the cute and cool concepts more." he had told them, telling them to act more cute. the group just took in the criticism until he was finished, sitting down as group b started to perform for him as well.

xukun felt bad. he had chosen this song, he had chosen the members. he was responsible for them having to do this. he couldn't really pay attention to the rest of the lesson they had with their teacher, his mind wandering and thinking about all of these issues. he felt a hand squeeze his knee. surprised, he looked up to meet the eyes of none other than wang ziyi. the older boy gave him a toothless smile, eyes filled with concern. the corners of xukun's mouth twisted up slightly, ziyi's smiles always made him feel better.

the rest of the time went by quickly, xukun's mind having drifted off onto ziyi and his smile, the worries all fading away...

~

ziyi was helping their opposing team with the dance moves, and in return they gave him a feel of cuteness, "put more force into your moves," he repeatedly told them. thankfully, he was a fairly patient person so their slow progress with dancing wasn’t a problem. xukun had joined in at one point, helping out with their lacking skills as well. ziyi never pictured xukun to be as nice as he was right now. he had always imagined xukun as ‘stuck up’ and only friends with those of top quality. apparently not. they continued on until they got too exhausted and went for a break. xukun and ziyi sat down on the floor, knees touching, as they waited for their students to come back.

xukun felt slightly awkward. there was no one else in the room except them two, the room seemed to be so stuffy the mirrors were steaming up slightly. xukun glanced up at ziyi to see him staring right back at it him, his face much closer than he anticipated. the younger could feel ziyi’s breath against his cheek. xukun unconsciously licked his lips.

without knowing, xukun leaned over slowly, but just before he was close enough to ziyi’s lips, the door opened.

the two jumped away from one another as if nothing happened, the other trainees didn’t really suspect anything though, or they just didn’t mention it while they got on with their lesson.

~

xukun sat down next to zhou rui with a couple of the other trainees doing the ppap song. the staff had prepared peppa pig on the tv for them, to make them feel the cute concept of the song. it brought xukun back to his childhood. he would watch shows like this (although it wasn’t around when he watched them) all the time. those were the good days. xukun watched it with amusement. he tried to hide his real emotions but he wasn’t so sure that he was doing a good job of that.

ziyi came walking in near the end, not sitting down to watch it. he didn’t really pay attention, mostly attempting to be cute in the mirror.

xukun watched ziyi for the rest of the show.

~

zhou rui was in the interview room, and he was also expressing how the entire group weren’t really digesting the whole cute concept, and as the leader he could barely help.

he had went to the practice room afterwards, and started to mess around with ziyi, “dancing this dance makes me have schizophrenia,” rui had said before doing the dance.

“smile!” ziyi teased when he had got to the chorus, in which the leader smiled a creepy smile.

zhou rui then started to count ziyi in to do the dance, “5, 6, 7, 8, go!” ziyi started to dance while rui sang the song for him. they both continued joking around for a while.

“it feels like i’m forcing myself to be cute,” ziyi had exclaimed while laughing at himself, “but when i try to be cute i personally feel that’s scary.” ziyi went up to the camera that was following him around and started to act emotionlessly cute, causing the other trainees who had joined them in the room to laugh even more.

~

once ziyi was back in the interview room he had talked with the staff about the issues he had come across again, “actually i feel that it’s a bit indigestible. my entire body,” he cut himself off groaning, just thinking about it made him feel horrible, “doesn’t feel good.” he had explained.

“do i look stupid or cute?” he questioned. the staff replied to him telling him that was the right thing to ask.

~

“cai xukun, you have to be cute,” zhou rui had scolded while practicing, “you have to be cute.” xukun then stared at himself in the mirror and smiled, his hands reaching up to his hand cutely. it didn’t last long since he started to cringe and fell to the floor dramatically. their leader then acted cute and the teenager laughed at him, causing rui to shout at him jokingly, “you have to be cute too! you have to be cute,” he continuously repeated.

when zhou rui was back in the interview room that day, he was asked about xukun and his progress, “a lot of people will feel that kunkun is unable to express his feelings well. yeah, and i also talked to him in private, he keeps saying that it’s a matter of himself that’s unable to do it,” he rambled, “and the issue is very urgent, very urgent, but you can’t do anything about it either.”

~

xukun wasn’t really trying to be cute, if he was being honest. it hurt his pride too much and therefore he only did it when zhou rui or one of his teammates pestered him to. only when ziyi had told him to be cute was when he started to try. something about when ziyi said it made him know it wasn’t optional and that he should do as he was told. he tried being cute while the practiced the dance together, but he seemed to just look weird, “you have to come up with facial expressions,” zhou rui had told him.

xukun looked back at himself in the mirror and smiled sweetly, but cringed and laughed at himself.

in his interview, xukun discussed about being cute, “i just feel a little shy. it’s really awkward, it’s awkward,” he leaned over but by mistakenly knocked something over. picking it up, he looked back at the interview and shrugged with a pout. the interview went on, and the interviewer then suggested, “let’s see you make an expression.”

xukun looked at them in shock and replied, “i’m going crazy, i’ll die. wait a moment,” he cringed, “save me!”

“i can’t be too greasy,” he whined, “can’t learn from zhou rui.”

he then proceeded to talk about his group leader, “zhou rui—” he cut himself off giggling, “zhou rui is like this,” he proceeded to throw some hearts in an attempt to imitate zhou rui, but he ended up tittering and frantically shaking his hands to somehow erase the memory of what he had just done.

he then started to prepare himself to be cute. getting up from his seat he whined in a what he hoped sounded like a cute voice, “i don’t want toooo,” he then went back to his seat, “ok that’s all.”

the staff then said, “that won’t do, i didn’t see any facial expressions.”

“i did them,” moaned xukun.

“i didn’t catch them on camera,” the staff had reasoned.

the centre wailed, “i did theeemm.”

when the interview was ending, xukun had said, “actually, i want to leave the surprise for the stage,” with a mischievous smile on his face.

~

yanchen walked into the interview room and talked casually with the staff about the day he had just went through. they had asked him about xukun and him being cute, in which he teased with, “kunkun is a sexy boy,” shaking his head side to side while smiling, “he can’t handle the cuteness but he’ll do it if ziyi tells him,” he winked, a suggestive tone in his voice, “he’ll do anything if ziyi tells him.”

the staff looked baffled for the rest of the interview, and when he left they had barely noticed, still recovering from the shock.

yanchen wasn't stupid. he could tell the duo were pining after each other since day one, and he was going crazy from just having to sit and watch them do nothing about it. that's why he decided that they'd already had enough time and he could now interfere.

he started by doing this.

~

it was early, maybe about four or five in the morning, ziyi couldn't tell. he had woke up earlier than usual, staring at the bunk above his while thinking about xukun. he had dreamed about xukun... again. of course, he would never admit that, these little secrets are the type of secrets he would take to his grave with him, never to be spoken of.

ziyi mentally decided that it was time to get up, seeing as he was gaining nothing (well maybe a stronger attraction to a certain someone) from just lying awake and staring into nothingness. trying his best at being quiet, ziyi removed himself from his bed and threw on his training clothes, putting his hat over his head and leaving the room.

he walked down the hallway slowly and casually, his light footsteps loud enough to echo through the silent corridor. on his way, he read the names on the blocks beside the closed doors, he recognised most of them, but some names he wasn't sure he had ever heard. this made him determined to get to know them. ziyi didn't like being known as the cold and unfriendly guy, which his looks may have said. he knew many people were scared of him because of his looks and that made him want to prove that, no, he wasn't mean or negative for the most part, he was someone who cared for others and was positive.

ziyi then came across one of the last rooms, and he halted to a stop when he saw the last name. cai xukun. god, even the name was pretty. ziyi could sit there for hours, saying his name on repeat and not get tired or sick of it. he stood still, almost like a statue, outside of the room until the door swung open, revealing none other than cai xukun himself. his face was mere inches away from his, his breath hitting against ziyi's chin. they both stared at each other in equal shock for a couple of minutes, not knowing what to say. that was until xukun broke the silence, "why are you up so early?"

"i could ask you the same thing," ziyi retorted, standing back slightly and crossing his arms. if he stood that close to xukun for any longer he wouldn't be able to resist the urge to kiss him.

"couldn't sleep," xukun shrugged, stepping forward again and closing the door behind himself, "wanna eat? heard the food's the best when it's early."

of course ziyi wouldn't reject the offer.

~

just as xukun had said, the food was better than how it normally was, maybe because no one had actually came and ate anything yet so they got first choice instead of the scrapings at the bottom of the dish. they sat down a cross from each other at a table next to a window. it was mostly silent between the two, both a lot more hungry than they thought, thus getting engrossed with their food than each other.

ziyi had finished first, looking up at xukun to see him chewing the last of his food as well. the younger looked up at him and smiled, his cheeks puffed out becaue of the food in his mouth. he swallowed and licked his lips, placing his chopsticks down on his plate, staring into ziyi's observant eyes afterwards. there they go again with the whole staring a each other until someone stops them, except there was no one there to stop them now. xukun placed his elbows on the table (zhou rui would of hit him over the head with something by now if he was here), his hands clasped together and his head placed on top of them, leaning closer to look at ziyi better.

but, as always they were interrupted, this time by a clash of what seemed to be pots falling in the kitchen. xukun jumped back in shock, hand on his chest. ziyi smiled at his cuteness, looking up at the big clock on the wall, reading the time as 5:59. it was still early, the rest of the trainees usually got up at 7 or 7:30 when the staff went around to wake them up, "we should practice for a bit before the others wake up, might as well not waste our time," xukun had said, interrupting his thoughts.

ziyi nodded in agreement, following behind xukun to the practice room.

~

the day was filled with constant practising, as the time to prepare become shorter by the second. the dress rehearsals and stage checkups were the next day, so they had to be perfect.

it was now late into the night, ziyi wasn't sure of the time since the last time he checked had been maybe a couple of hours ago and it was nearing midnight by that time. the production team had left a couple of minutes ago, along with zhengting, who claimed he had six children to take care of. zhou rui and yanchen had also left, ziyi wasn't really listening to them when they left, all he caught onto was something to do with xingjie. ziyi didn't really care.

what ziyi did care about, though, was that it was only him and xukun in the room. team b had went to bed about an hour or two ago, seeing as they were still quite young and needed more sleep than his group, seeing as they were all basically adults. ziyi was in front of the mirror (ok maybe he was about or two away from it but he was still somewhat in front of it), dancing to the song that was playing in the background, trying to see how he could make himself seem more cute. xukun was sitting down in the middle of the floor, hunched over the sheet with the lyrics on it, his hand in his palm as he read over and practised his lines. he looked tired.

ziyi continued to dance until he stepped on a piece of paper on the floor. before he could keep his balance, his foot moved in a way which caused him to fall over. falling over was bad, and falling over in front of your crush is even worse, but falling  _on top_ of your crush is the worst. ziyi repeatedly cursed all the gods out there as he realised what had happened.

ziyi opened his eyes which he didn't even notice he closed during the fall, showing him his unfortunate but assumed fate. there, lying underneath him, was cai xukun himself, his eyes as wide as saucers, his face gradually turning into a slight pink colour the longer they stared at each other.

and so, probably for the 58954207th time today, they stared at each other. neither of them ever questioned why they did it, ziyi wasn't sure himself why they would just stare at each other without a word, only stopping when someone or something would intervene. thinking about that, ziyi wondered how long the others will be gone for? how much time will they sit there and do nothing but stare at each other? all these thoughts attacked ziyi's brain, all the while he stared at xukun's lips. they were moderately chapped, the faint makeup he had put on before shooting started having faded off with sweat as the day went on. despite the slight flaws, he still wanted to kiss them. that made ziyi ponder whether or not he should in fact, kiss them... wait no him. if it goes well, the pair can live a happy life together, and if it doesn't, he could pretend it was an accident made by his arms being too tired to hold his arms up any longer, then at least he'll know what it was like.

fuck it, ziyi thought. he leaned down to peck xukun's mouth, pulling himself back up slightly to see the younger's reaction. he expected a look of disapproval, maybe to be shoved off or xukun would run away... or just sit there and stare at him in shock and then question him.

what he didn't expect was his shirt to be tugged down by a pair of cold hands which ended up with ziyi accidentally kissing xukun. maybe it wasn't an accident this time, seeing as xukun  _had_   pulled him down, not the other way round. ziyi realised nothing was happening again, this time it wasn't their eyes connecting but their lips. he lifted himself up slightly to look down at xukun again, this time his eyes were filled with desire, an almost loving gaze. that's when everything started to add up in his mind. the subtle hints, nudges and flirting, large amounts of time spent gazing at each other. ziyi then realised how much of an idiot he was for not noticing soon enough.

without thinking this time, only slightly glancing at xukun's smiling face underneath him, ziyi moved back down, this time in between xukun's legs, his arms circling around the outline of xukun's head almost as if it was a fence blocking them off from the outside world (mostly because he was tired from staying in an almost press up position for this amount of time and his legs and arms were in need of a rest), yet again capturing xukun's lips in his own. it wasn't long or anything, just short, sweet and simple like the last couple of kisses they shared. when he pulled away, ziyi could feel the air xukun pushed out of his nose against his face, it was almost soothing, like a good quality air conditioner. 

ziyi looked into xukun's eyes again, this time beaming at him and rubbing their noses together in an eskimo kiss. xukun had got the hint a while ago, there was no need for those long ass confessions if they weren't necessary at the moment, it wasn't like either of the two had enough vocal and mental talent to think up one on the spot so why bother? 

pushing the thought aside, ziyi proceeded to plant kisses all around xukun's pale face, on his cheeks, the tip of his nose, his eyelids, the corners of his mouth, his temple, jaw and that freckle he has underneath his left cheekbone. he ended back at his lips, only giving them a brief kiss before giving him a cheeky grin. xukun pouted and furrowed his eyebrows in such a cute way ziyi nearly cried, instead he dived in to kiss him again, but xukun had turned his head to the side which resulted in him kissing his jaw, not that it was bad or anything, ziyi could sit there and kiss his jaw for eternity if he had the time, but that wasn't what he wanted at the moment. so, reaching his hand out, he grabbed (gently though) xukun's jaw and turned him around, connecting their lips for a couple of seconds and then withdrew. xukun avoided eye contact with him for the first time since they met, and ziyi thought it was the cutest thing he had ever seen.

after a while of teasing each other, xukun went back to the drowsy state he was in before. he jerked the taller down by his top again, but this time next to him, rolling over so he was lying on top of ziyi, basically using him as a body pillow. ziyi's entire insides melted at the sight of xukun curled up on top of him, his head in his chest. ziyi combed his hands through the blonde strands of hair and soon enough, he could hear xukun's breathing calm down, signalling he had fallen asleep. and then, a couple of minutes later, ziyi drifted off too.

minutes later, the door opened, yanchen and zhou rui barge into the room, but they pause as they see two motionless figures lying on the middle of the practice room. they both stand shocked at the sight, glancing at each other before going on with the rest of their day (well, night), clueless to what had took place just minutes before they had entered.

**Author's Note:**

> I know this sucks I'm v sorry but I just had to contribute to this ship ok
> 
> also xukun is still 19 and technically that’s a teenager (in my world whihc has no one in it except me ooft) so— (and that sounds v perverted now oh funk)
> 
> i quoted a couple of things from the behind the scenes but that subs aren’t mine they belong to the idol producer subs guys (i would link it but i cant find it rn) so credits to them (again) not me


End file.
